A Flying Fish Whispered

What begins as a romantic tryst in a tropical setting quickly becomes, in this novel first published in 1938, an imaginative exploration of two opposing cultural and economic frameworks in the Caribbean--the dichotomy between the peasant plot, where cultivation and nature mingle, and the estate where land is simply an industrial resource. When Teresa Craddock rebuilds her life on an island resembling Dominica, she rediscovers lost passion by becoming involved with the new owner of an abandoned estate, Derek Morrel. Torn between her desires and the conflict of values with Morrel, the feisty, witty Teresa eventually comes to realize that Morrel''s attitudes towards her body and the land are the same.

When Teresa Craddock joins her brother Tommy on an island that is and isn''t Dominica, she is in flight from life and the death of her fiancé. On the island she finds a congenial new home and rediscovers a zest for life. Indeed, when Derek Morell, the new owner of an old estate, signals an unmistakeable interest in her, Teresa is more than ready for an adventure, despite the inconvenient fact that Morell is married. But what seems to begin as a witty account of romance in a tropical setting reveals itself to be an important ''lost'' work in Caribbean fiction, parallel to the work of Phyllis Allfrey and Jean Rhys. Ultimately, A Flying Fish Whispered becomes a deeply imaginative exploration of different kinds of Caribbeans.

Introduction by Evelyn O''Callaghan.

Elma Napier was born in Scotland in 1892 and settled in with her family at Calibishie, Dominica in 1932. She quickly became a leading literary and political personality on the island, and in 1940 became the first woman ever to be elected to a Caribbean legislature. Apart from two autobiographies, Youth is a Blunder and Winter in July, she wrote a further novel with a Dominican setting, Duet in Discord, also under the pen name of Elizabeth Garner. She died in Dominica in 1973.

• | Author: Elma Napier
• | Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd
• | Publication Date: Oct 30, 2011
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781845231026
• | ISBN-10: 1845231023